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Tuesday, August 22, 2006

In an interview years ago David Brinkley asked advice columnist Ann Landers what question she most frequently received from readers. Her answer:

"What's wrong with me?"

I think Lander's answer strikes a chord with the feelings of many a job-seeker. After weeks...months of being in the job market, enduring countless online applications (the resume' black hole), interview-after-bone-wearying-interview, and promises of returned phone calls that never happen, one...gets...tired.

Inevitably, many start to wonder, "What the heck is wrong with me...am I a failure?"Most people believe that success breeds success and they believe that the converse is true too, that failure breeds failure. Says who? There are plenty of people who fail before they succeed, some of whom are serial failures. Say hello to James Dyson, the inventor of the bag-less vacuum cleaner. He built 5,127 prototypes before he found a design that worked.

Putting it in perspective, we've all "failed" in this "job-search-thing" at one time or another. But those of you who will finally beat this thing will have one thing in common with the rest of us:

You will have learned to put "failure" in perspective.

Erma Bombeck suffered her share of troubles and failures. Listen to what she has to say about her life experiences:

"I speak at college commencements, and I tell everyone I'm up there andthey're down there, not because of my successes, but my failures. My comedyrecord album sold two copies in Beirut. My sitcom lasted as long as a donut inour house. My Broadway play never saw Broadway. I had a book signing thatattracted two people: one who wanted directions to the restroom, and the otherwanted to buy a desk. What you have to tell yourself is, "I'm not afailure. I failed at doing something." There's a big difference. I've buriedbabies, lost parents, had cancer, and worried over kids. The trick is to put itall in perspective...and that's what I do for a living."